Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe has stressed the need for a more robust partnership between the International Trade Centre (ITC) and Malawi government in addressing food security.

Speaking during a bilateral meeting in Geneva with the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Gwengwe highlighted the potential of technology in combating food insecurity and called for enhanced collaboration and technical expertise to advance the food security agenda.

Gwengwe expressed his gratitude for the ITC’s SheTrades programme for empowering female entrepreneurs in the country.
In her remarks, ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton commended Malawi for its significant strides in promoting gender equality, by involving women in the Trade Policy Review (TPR).

She said the ITC will collaborate with Malawi Government to further implement the SheTrades initiative through the World Trade Organization (WTO), making it an essential component of Malawi’s TPR strategy.

She acknowledged government for advocating for women in public procurement and stressed the importance of establishing sustainable mechanisms to enhance women’s access to financial resources.

In addressing food security issues, Pamela Coke-Hamilton highlighted ITC’s active participation in programmes focused on diversification and climate-smart agriculture, citing the Alliance for Action Program as a pivotal initiative.

She underscored the significance of value addition in Malawi’s agricultural sector to ensure sustainable growth.

Source:Mana

The information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Association of Malawi (Ictam) has described technology as a catalyst for a turn-around for the country’s economy.

Ictam President Clarence Gama said Ictam will continue to stand firm to help the country grow in the ICT sector.

Gama was saying this earlier today at the 2024 ICT Expo at BICC in Lilongwe.

“The Expo is an opportunity to explore the transformative power of digital technology” said Gama.

He also added that this is a thrilling moment to see so many innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders in one place, united by a shared vision for digital empowered Malawi. We should work to harness the power of digital technology and create a brighter future for Malawi.

The higher Education Students Loan and Grants Board has introduced online applications for all needy students in need of loans in the country as a way of enhancing smoother loan disbursement.

Prince Phwetekere, the Board’s Executive Director earlier today said this new online application arrangement will start from May 1 to June 30, 2024.

“We are have also come up with a biased initiative where 288 Open Distance Leaning (ODL) females that are studying education, agriculture, ICT, and energy will be supported in order to promote equal access to tertiary education with support from the World Bank” said Phwetekere.

He also added that they have also been making significant progress in loan recovery, as they are now able to collect K100 million a month from K40 million.

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has blamed the lack of capacity in most community broadcasters in the areas of basic financial management and governance as factors hindering their service delivery.

Speaking during the launch of a training on financial management and corporate governance in Lilongwe on Monday for central region community broadcasters, MACRA Board Member Stella Chuthi said the training will assist community broadcasters to manage their finances efficiently.

“As broadcasters, you cannot effectively achieve this goal if your finances are not well managed. Neither can your station be effective if you do not apply good governance principles,” she said.

She said as a regulator that wants to see the ICT sector perform and grow, they felt it is proper to provide support where necessary especially in financial management and governance.

Chuthi said as part of technical audit, they request broadcasters to submit financial statements to assess their performance. Unfortunately, most do not produce them due to lack of skills in that area.

She said similarly with governance, some community broadcasters are operating without Boards and this is a challenge in terms of decision making and accountability.

President Dr Lazarus Chakwera arrived in Dubai in the early hours of Friday to attend the Fifth Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC) Conference scheduled to take place from the 24th to 27th October 2021.

The G-STIC conference is one of the world’s largest conferences and key meeting place where real-life examples of innovative technological solutions for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are discussed.

Welcoming the President was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eisenhower Mkaka, Minister of Information Gospel Kazako and other government officials.

In an interview at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako said over 140 countries and leaders are participating in the conference and as such Malawi needed to be part of the agenda on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).

The fair is focusing on knowledge and technologies that are crucial to achieving SDGs. It is an accelerator and testing ground for breakthrough technological solutions that the world needs to shape a post-pandemic world and create a better future for all.

The G-STIC conference themes focus on breakthrough innovations for nine societal challenges: climate, water, energy, health, oceans, education, circular economy, ICT and youth.

Nine Customs Clearing Agents and an importer have been arrested by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) for allegedly forging invoices to fraudulently clear motor vehicles at Songwe Border Station in Karonga.

MRA has confirmed of the arrest in a statement released on April 24, 2020 made available to Faceofmalawi.

According to MRA, the arrested Customs Clearing Agents are suspected to have connived with some importers and some MRA officers to use false invoices with the aim of paying to Government less duty than what was payable.

The Director of Tax Investigations, Steven Kajombo, said: “In pursuit of our mandate to counteract fraud, we have put a strong investigation, ICT and legal team using latest technology to swiftly and effectively detect and bring to book any such fraudsters and any person who aided such illegal transaction.”

According to the Customs and Excise Act, it is an offence for an importer, an agent or owner of the goods being imported to use or attempt to use documents or invoices that have been forged, falsified or framed so as to deceive the Authority.

The Authority is also investigating MRA officers involved in the fraudulent clearance of the vehicles.

The Head of Internal Affairs, Mcsyd Chalunda said: “MRA places a high value on integrity and does not tolerate cases of fraud involving its members of staff. Any member of staff involved in such malpractices shall face disciplinary action which may include summary dismissal in accordance with MRA’s Conditions of Service.” The Authority is appealing to motor vehicle importers to insist on the use of original documents and check the authenticity of clearance documents.

The Mzuzu Magistrates Court has since granted the arrested individuals bail but investigations are continuing and more arrests are imminent.

Malawi’s integrated mobile and ICT services provider, TNM Plc, has appointed Chikhulupiliro Mphatso as the first General Manager of its newly established mobile money subsidiary, TNM Mpamba Ltd.

Mphatso was previously the head of TNM Plc’s mobile money division prior to its evolution into an autonomous company with its own board of directors. The new General Manager said Mpamba will remain integral to TNM Plc’s quest to deepen financial inclusion and application of mobile financial technology in the daily business and lives of Malawians.

“We will continue to provide financial liberty to our customers using the TNM Mpamba mobile money platform that enhances financial inclusion which is mostly geared towards the unbanked and underbanked,” said Mphatso. Therefore bringing financial services closer to more Malawians through the use of their mobile device.

Mphatso assured Mpamba customers that the company will continue improving mobile money services, which contributed to about 4.3 percent of TNM’s total revenues in 2018.
“The fourth industrial revolution is changing the business landscape where businesses are required to adapt to remain valid. As a company, we will keep pushing the boundaries of innovation to enable customers to transact on the trusted, secure and convenient Mpamba platform,” he said.

TNM Plc has retained 100 percent ownership in TNM Mpamba Limited. The change is in compliance with regulatory requirements and does not affect service provision. TNM Mpamba will continue under the same network platform, and infrastructure that customers have grown accustomed to over the years.

TNM Plc’s Chief Executive Officer Michiel Buitelaar who has taken over as Chairman of TNM Mpamba’s Board of Directors said the development underscores TNM’s long-term ambition to leverage on the growth of mobile money and the telco’s strategic direction of becoming more than just a telecoms service provider. This strategic intent was seen in the acquisition of BURCO which made TNM an Internet Service Provider (I.S.P) and more recently in the growth of Mpamba into a separate business unit.

“The birth of TNM Mpamba Limited will fully exploit the benefits of the big synergies between TNM Plc and the mobile money business, underscoring our vision of becoming ‘more than just a telco’. The growth of Mpamba speaks to TNM’s fundamental vision and strategy which seeks to enable mobile phones to become financial outlets,” he said.

Year on year, TNM’s Mpamba revenue contribution grew by 54 percent from MWK2.4 billion in 2017 to MWK 3.7 billion in 2018, according to TNM Plc’s 2018 annual report. TNM’s first-half results for the period ending June 2019 also show strong revenue growth for its business units.

15-year-old Jenifer Chikosa, a form 2 student from Emvuyeni CDSS in Mzimba, has developed a Disease and Prevention (DAP) Application, a search engine for diseases and how they can be treated.

Jenifer observed a number of Malawians walk long distances to seek assistance on ailments which they can easily get help by just surfing the internet.

This came to light during the commemoration of the Girls in ICT Day in Lilongwe on Wednesday.

She urged girls to consider pursuing ICT as a career to help Malawi develop.

“Too many people in our country are living far away from hospitals. We have developed this App because people do not know what diseases they suffer from and how they can be prevented. People where I stay are not even aware of kwashiorkor even the signs of malaria.

“So, with this App, they can just look it up there and find the causes, symptoms, effects and prevention and then get treated,” said Jenifer.

ICT for Development Manager at Plan Malawi, Eldridge Mwangonde, highlighted the need to make technology more accessible to girls to close the digital gender gap.

“We are training girls in different areas throughout Malawi especially in districts of Mulanje, Kasungu, Lilongwe and Mzimba. We support girls to develop things like the Applications even using mobile phones,” said Mwangonde.

On her part, Principal Secretary for information and communications technology, Dr. Esmie Kainja, said government has put in place measures to ensure ICT is recognized, embraced and taken as an enabler.

The global Girls in ICT commemoration is held on 25th April and in Malawi it was held on Wednesday under the theme Girls as creators of technology and online content.

Government has reassured the general public that the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), will remain open to serve all Malawians in accordance to its mandate as a public broadcaster ahead of the forthcoming tripartite elections.

Minister of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Henry Mussa, made the commitment Wednesday when he visited the public broadcaster in Blantyre.

“I have appealed to MBC as a public broadcaster to rise above petty party politics and serve the nation sincerely in a professional and accountable manner,” said Mussa.

He said with the advent of social media where fake news tends to sensationalize issues, the nation depends on the public broadcaster as a credible source of information.

“I have also asked MBC to share content of national interest with other media houses so that the entire nation is equally informed and educated on matters of national importance,” said Mussa.

In response, MBC Director General, Aubrey Sumbuleta, said that MBC provide fair coverage to all players in the forthcoming tripartite elections.

An IT chief overseeing the Kenyan general election has been found dead with one of his arms cut off just days before polls open.

Chris Musando was Deputy Director of ICT for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission – Kenya’s equivalent of the Electoral Commission .
He had been missing since Friday.

Police found Musando’s grey Land Rover Discovery abandoned behind a shopping mall and later found his body with his arm severed.

Polls open in Kenya’s general election in eight days.

According to the Kenya Star, Musando was one of few people in the country who knew the whereabouts of the computer servers which power the country’s election system

The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) has come out of its cocoon and criticize President professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s administration over the growing intolerance of free speech in the country.

The criticism follows reports that a 19-year-old Information and Communications Technology (ICT) student at Daeyang Luke University in Lilongwe, Patrick Semu, was arrested by the Malawi Police over the weekend and spent 36 hours behind bars after allegedly criticizing the state President.

As this is not enough, In September last year, a 60-year-old Alinafe Paulo of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka was convicted and fined MK3,000 or serve three months imprisonment with hard labor for insulting the President.

In a statement released today Tuesday March 15, 2016 signed by MISA-Malawi President Thom Khanje, the body says the move taken by the DPP administration is uncalled for in modern and democratic Malawi where citizens have a right to freely express themselves as guaranteed under Section 35 of the Malawi Constitution, which the President swore to defend.

“Section 35 provides that ‘Every person shall have the right to freedom of expression.’ Criticising the president falls within the framework of this provision and should never warrant an arrest. People should not be arrested for merely exercising a constitutional right.

“Criticising those in power is healthy for a democracy and government is constitutionally obliged to tolerate and respect citizen views and opinions. This is also critical in building a healthy and vibrant society,” reads the statement in part.

Added Khanje: “As MISA-Malawi we find the conduct of the Police in arresting and charging people for insulting the President retrogressive and a threat to democracy.”

MISA-Malawi President has also appealed for repeal of laws that are inconsistent with the country’s democratic dispensation.

“The offense of “Conduct Likely to Cause Breach of Peace”, which was used in both cases as cited here; is a broad and archaic law which is often abused by law enforcers.

“It is one of the out-of-date and unconstitutional laws which Malawi has maintained after inheriting them from colonial masters. Other laws in that category includes the Protected Flag, Emblems and Names Act, the Official Secrets Act (1913); the Printed Publications Act (1947) and the Censorship and Control of Entertainment Act (1968), among others,” said Khanje.

Added Khanje: ”It his high time Malawi repealed these statutes to get rid of laws that are not in line with our democratic dispensation. Applying laws enacted during the colonial period, fifty years after independence, is retrogressive and a threat to our hard won democracy.”

In line with his dream of turning Malawi into an industrialized economy before he leaves office in 2024, President Prof Peter Mutharika has taken it upon himself to sell the country to global investors during his time at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) when he took to the podium during a parallel session on Business Opportunities in Malawi on Thursday, President Mutharika dissected the country’s potential as an investment destination in key areas such as security, tax regime, human resource, market availability among others.

“You have very good reasons for coming to invest in Malawi. First of all, Malawi has the resources that you need. You can be assured of raw material resources, security, market availability and a business climate conducive to investment. Malawi has risen by 23 points on the Doing Business Index in the past twelve (12) months. And the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Bank recently highlighted Malawi as an investment haven in the Southern African region,” said President Mutharika.

He added, “In Malawi, you can invest in Agriculture and agro-processing, Energy, Mining, Tourism, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Information Communication Technology (ICT), and Financial services, to mention a few”

He intimated to the gathering on how his government is reforming institutions and systems so as to acquire desirable levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) “Africa is growing economically. Malawi is part of this growth.

Like other African countries, Malawi is registering growth in the private sector. We are thus far carrying out serious institutional reforms to secure and consolidate our growth. We are particularly consolidating the investment environment. Malawi has a lot business opportunities and potentials. As far as investment opportunities are concerned, Malawi cannot be ignored,” he said while calling upon the gathering to access copies of Malawi’s investment compendium on bankable projects.

The Malawi leader further assured potential investors of a readily-available market for their products and services.

“We have the labour and the market for your products. Malawi has friendly, disciplined, trainable and hard-working labour force. We are party to a wider market under the Tripartite Agreement, which comprises the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC), which has a combined total market of over 700 million people. This offers enormous market opportunities to investors. Currently, we have launched a programme towards the establishment of Africa wide Free Trade Area. Furthermore, Malawian exports enjoy preferential market access to the EU, under the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Japan, China, India, and a number of bilateral duty free agreements with several countries,” he said.

Since the days of campaigning before the 2014 elections, President Mutharika has always emphasized on how he wants to transform Malawi through massive investment, job and wealth creation which lead to meaningful real income for common people.

The Chinese government has given the Malawi government a grant of MK17 billion to help in various sectors in the country.

The grant comes just barely a day after Huawei Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Xu Wenwei also offered ICT scholarships to Malawians to study in China’s top Universities.

President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika received the grant on behalf of Malawians during an audience with the Chinese Premier (Prime Minister), Mr. Li Keqiang on Thursday.

Writing on his official Facebook page, Mutharika said part of the grant will be used in the procuring of 100 Police vehicles to help in curbing the high crime rate so as to create a favourable condition for investors in the country.

“Part of this grant will be channeled towards the completion of 5 more technical colleges as we continue creating the skilled labor force necessary for social and economic development,” wrote Mutharika.

He also said that the Chinese government has vowed to continue supporting the country as it strives in fighting poverty.

Mutharika is in China for a three day Global Economic Forum (GEF) meeting which started on Thursday.

Huawei Technologies Company has given Malawi government scholarships that would enable young Malawians to train in areas of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) at top Universities in the People’s Republic of China.

Huawei Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Xu Wenwei disclosed this during an audience with President Professor Peter Mutharika in Dalian on Wednesday.

According to Xu ,the gesture is part of the company’s capacity building initiative for Malawi aimed at creating skilled workforce for its projects in the country.

Xu added that his company shall employ the beneficiaries soon after completing their studies.

“After developing an application we move into building a network and in order for us to achieve faster productivity we have realised that we need to train locals to do the job. I therefore present to you Your Excellency, scholarships that will see young Malawians study ICT so that they shall become the seed for the future development of technology in Malawi,” said Xu.

In his remarks Mutharika hailed China for its contribution to the education, health, infrastructure development and ICT sector.

“As government we really appreciate the contribution China is making in areas of education, health, ICT development. I have personally interacted with Malawian students who are studying in this country. Let me also particularly thank Huawei for their gesture. As government we appreciate this support,” Mutharika said.

Founded in 1988, Huawei is the third largest smart phone manufacturer after Apple and Samsung and a major supplier and manufacturer of ICT solutions. The company has created over 150,000 jobs across the globe with its revenue pegged at about $55 billion dollars.

Malawians have to wait a little bit longer to start reaping the benefits of the Consolidated ICT Regulatory Management system (CIRMS) as the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (Macra) is yet to implement the system two months after the Supreme Court gave them a go ahead.

CIRMS, a system with interlinked components to facilitate efficient regulation of the telecoms sector sparked controversy after it was dubbed ‘spy machine’ prompting two concerned consumers, Hophmally Makande and Eric Sabwera to drag Macra to court in order for the system not to be installed.

The High Court ruled in favour of the two but after Macra appealed the decision, the Supreme Court, in September this year, overturned the decision of the High Court and mandated Macra to proceed with the implementation. But since then, the regulatory body is yet to implement the system.

Clara Mulonya, Communications Officer for Macra could not specify the exact time for the implementation of the system but said “it won’t be long before it does so.”

“We have outstanding issues to sort out and these include: finalisation of the link connections to all operators, upgrading of the software since it has been idle from installation, interfacing of the system for probe handshakes, recruitment and training of additional staff in the standards and technology department, and testing and final commissioning,” she said.

MACRA procured the CIRMS at a cost of USD6.8 million from Agilis International in 2010 for purposes of fulfilling its statutory monitoring mandate in respect to quality of service (QoS), revenue assurance, fraud and spectrum management.
Of particular importance, many Malawians are hoping the CIRMS, if successfully installed, will help improve the quality of service from phone operators as well as help slice off phone tariffs that are believed to be high as compared to other countries. But whether that will be so, remains to be seen.

Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nankhumwa has said the Government is committed to ensuring that universal access to ICT products and services be enhanced in order to improve service delivery in both public and private sectors.

Nankhumwa said this on Wednesday during the official opening of the 3rd Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF) held in Lilongwe under the theme ‘ Internet Governance as a Building Block of SADC Regional Integration’.

“It is my hope that this Forum will explore and come up with strategies that will ensure that our people have access to timely and relevant information, as well as increasing popular participation of citizens in development, governance and democratic processes in the region.

“Above all, the Forum is expected to agree on issues that will contribute to the regional objective of having a coordinated and coherent platform for dealing with Internet Governance issues in the SADC region, which will among other things include the creation of an Internet governance and policy dialogue space at the national and regional levels”, he said.

Nankhumwa added : “As a nation, Malawi will strive to and implement all our resolutions that will be made at this Forum for the benefit of our people and the SADC region as a whole.

He however, urged member to guard against abuse and misuse of these resources.

The Nigerian government has secured over $293 million funding support from the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Mr. Abdulkadir Musa, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the fund was to create 460,000 jobs across eight sectors of the economy under the Growth and Employment (GEM) project over the next six years (2013-2018).

Musa told the GEM Entertainment Cluster workshop in Lagos that the DFID provided $120 million Euros as grant and the World Bank gave $173 million as concessionary loans for the implementation of the project in Nigeria.

He said that the project, which has started running since June last year and would expire in September 2018, was aimed at job creation and increased non-oil growth in specific high-potential value chain sectors.

According to him, the project has identified eight sectors based on their growth and employment potential and they are: Entertainment industry, ICT, hospitality and tourism; meat and leather, light manufacturing and agro processing; construction/real estate as well as whole sale and retail sector.

In his remarks, Andrew Gatside, Senior Private Sector Development Adviser of the World Bank, urged the operators in the targeted key sectors to tap into the project in order to benefit their businesses.
GEM is an employment project formulated by the ministry and supported by the World Bank and the DFID.

Minister of Information , Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nankhumwa has said Malawi Post Corporation (MPC) is one of the best performing parastatals in the country.

Nankhumwa said this on Tuesday in lilongwe during the opening ceremony of the 33rd Ordinary Session of Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) administrative council meeting where he was guest of honor.

In his speech, Nankhumwa said the viral spread of internet services in the country which came along with electronic mailing (email) raised fears of putting MPC postal services on the verge of extinction but the postal parastatal managed to adapt to the new technology and has since used it to enhance its service delivery.

“This threat that came along with the internet was however not Malawi’s alone but a shared one across the African continent and hence the crucial role that PAPU plays in providing a platform where the countries can converge and share success stories, challenge curbing strategies and strategise way forwards”, said Nankhumwa.

On his part, MPC Postmaster General Andrew Kumbatira his organization success follows creative and innovative adaptation to new forms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The PAPU meeting is being held at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) under the theme “Postal Regulation; Stimulating Growth and Quality of Service Improvement” and it is being hosted by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) along with MPC.